ERIN – Town council has allotted the remaining $126,314 from a 2019 modernization and efficiency grant.
The province provided Erin with a total of $602,673 for modernizing the delivery of town services to the community in an effort to reduce long-term expenses.
Town staff recommended spending the remaining dollars on four projects, including furniture upgrades to fire Station 50; replacing the fire department’s two-way radios; live GPS tracking and dashcams for snowplows; and testing software for planning public engagement.
Treasurer Wendy Parr, who presented the recommendations at an April 13 meeting, said the ideas were brought forward over several meetings.
“We brought ideas together from everybody, and sat an discussed them,” Parr said.
Councillor John Brennan asked town staff to explain each recommendation.
Erin Fire Chief Jim Sawkins said $25,000 would be spent on flooring and baseboard, a coffee counter, tables, whiteboards and projectors.
The idea, Sawkins explained, is for Station 50 to be used as a backup emergency operations centre.
Radio replacements, totalling over $73,000, will cover all fire trucks, portable radios and base-station radios.
Infrastructure services director Nick Colucci explained live GPS will allow residents to track where snowplows are at any given time, hopefully preventing calls to the town about their location.
Colucci said dashcams could also be linked into a livefeed for residents to view snow conditions online.
The first phase cost for both projects is said to be $20,000.
Development and planning director Jack Krubnik said he’s evaluating software, at a cost of slightly over $8,000, to see if it will meet the town’s needs for engagement planning.
Council voted to carry staff recommendations as presented.
